


The Bus Terminal

by itsmayhemily



Category: Psych
Genre: Angst, Best Friends, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship, Gen, Leaving Home, Teenagers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-20
Updated: 2014-08-20
Packaged: 2018-02-14 00:56:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,490
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2171817
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsmayhemily/pseuds/itsmayhemily
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In a busy bus terminal, two life-long best friends contemplate big changes, the future, and what it means for their friendship.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Bus Terminal

_"There are no good byes for us.  Wherever you are, you will always be in my heart."_   
_\- Mahatma Gandhi -_

* * *

 The young man rushed off the bus, entering the bus terminal with purpose and determination. To his left, the ocean was relatively calm, gentle waves splashing against the shoreline. The sun glowed, painting the Earth with its red-orange light as it began to set, sitting just above the horizon. A few dark clouds could be seen rolling in the distance. The weather man had forecasted a clear, cloudless night tonight. So much for that report. Far to his right was the city itself, glowing bright with artificial lights and filled with the ideal chatter of its residents as they slowly turned in for the evening or prepared for a night out.

His dark brown eyes scanned the crowds of people rushing through the terminal, each in a hurry to reach the bus that would take them to their destinations. His destination, however, lay somewhere within the bus terminal itself. Finally, his eyes rested upon another young man, with long brown hair, dressed in dark blue jeans, an old band t-shirt and a red plaid button down, unopened. He was staring at a large-scale map of the United States, studying it so intently he didn’t even notice the other man approach.

“Shawn!” he called, causing the other man to spin around to face him.

“Gus? What are you doing here? How did you even find me?”

Gus rolled his eyes. “Because I know you, Shawn. And I know that every time you try to ‘run away’, you come to the bus terminal and stare at that map for half an hour,”

Shawn sighed. He was right, as always. The half a dozen times he’d ran away from home, he’d come to the bus terminal, with its bright florescent lights, dank concrete walls and the smell of diesel exhaust in the air, to stare at the large map of the United States, thinking about all the places he’d wish he could go. And every time, he’d always ended up turning back around and heading home, knowing that he had no means of going anywhere.

Not this time.

This time, he wasn’t going to simply turn around and go home like a lost puppy. There was no way he could go back there, not when “home” consisted of his father and his reign of tyranny over the 18-year-old’s life.

“Shawn,” said Gus, pulling him out of his musings, “stop it with this nonsense. Now is not the time to be messing around, day dreaming about going places you are never going to go, especially with the first semester of college starting in a couple weeks,”

Shawn walked past his life-long best friend and out of the bus terminal onto the main platform. Beyond the rows of buses waiting to transport passengers to wherever it was that they were going, was the main highway. The highway seemed to stretch endlessly in either direction, seeming to have no beginning or end.

The road was where he wanted to be, completely uninhibited and free to do whatever he damn-well pleased. He could finally be free; free of his father and his overbearing style to parenting. Free of the responsibilities and expectations that had been placed on him his entire life. Free of any ties to the small city that he’d grown up in and the memories he just wanted to leave behind. These where the only thoughts running through his head as he loaded up his backpack with the bare essentials, hoped on his newly purchased ’70 Norton Commando 750 and drove off towards the bus terminal to plan his destination. Not that he really cared. Any place was better than here, in his opinion.

That is, of course, until Gus decided to show up and possibly blow all his plans to smithereens. It had always been Shawn and Gus. They were hardly ever seen without the other one close by, engaged in whatever crazy scheme Shawn had cooked up that would end with one or both of them either grounded or in the hospital. And even though Gus already had one older sister and Shawn was an only child, they were closer than brothers.

And now Shawn was leaving. Possibly for good.

Shawn turned to face Gus, trying to read the emotions written across his face. Gus had always been as easy to read as an open children’s book, and now was no different. Shawn saw so much shock and anguish written across Gus’s features, it was like a stab in the heart.

“I have to go, Gus,” Shawn stated.

“Go? Go where?” Gus asked.

“I don’t know. New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Denver, Mexico, hell Canada if I have to. I just can’t stay here anymore, Gus. There are just too many bad memories here. I have to get away, before I completely lose it,”

“So that’s it? You’re just going to hop on your motorcycle and drive until you run out of gas? How is running away going to fix anything?”

“I don’t know! All I know is that this place is eating me alive! I have to get out there. I want to see the world, explore new places, meet interesting people, try new food. I need to have fun, maybe learn a thing or two. I don’t want to be an adult yet, Gus, no matter what other people keep telling me,”

In the distance, you could hear the ocean beginning to pick up, the waves growing harsher as they crashed against the shore more violently then they had minutes before. The sun was dipping lower below the horizon and continuing its descent as the day dwindled down to an end. The clouds seem to have expanded and multiplied as they were speaking, growing darker and more threatening as time passed. They were definitely getting some rain. Stupid weather man lied.

Gus stared at the ground for several, tense seconds before speaking. “What about us? What about me, your best friend? Where you planning on just leaving without so much as a simple good bye? And what about after you leave? When will I ever see you again?”

Shawn ran a hand through his long, thick hair, musing it up more are he took in Gus’ words. He hadn’t thought of that. After a few moments of musing, Shawn sighed, obviously just as torn up by the prospect of their separation as Gus was.

“It won’t be forever,” he said. “I’ll keep in touch. Write postcards and letters and stuff whenever I can. It’ll be like I never left,”

“It won’t be the same without you here,” said Gus sadly.

Hazel-green eyes met dark brown ones as the two life-long friends looked at each other, really looked at each other, for several minutes, finally letting it all sink in. The waves in the distance crashed against the shoreline and the clouds rolled in. People rushed all around them, trying to get cover from the impending rainfall. The sun was almost set, just a crescent peeking out over the horizon. But neither friend noticed, too busy dealing with their own little world to care about the outside world around them.

It was Shawn that finally broke the silence. “I should really get going, you know, before it really starts pouring,” Gus could only nod, tears burning at the backs of his eyes.

“Dude, you’re not going to start crying, are you?” Shawn asked, slightly amused.

“You know I’m a sympathetic crier, Shawn,” Gus shot back. Shawn smiled, a little sadly. Together, the two friends made their way through the crowds of people crammed into the bus terminal and outside to the parking lot, where Shawn’s bike was parked. He straddled the seat and put his helmet on. He turned on the ignition and revved up the motorcycle, enjoying the feel of the engine rumbling beneath him. He looked up at Gus, who was trying to put on a brave face and ultimately failing.

“Gus, you know you’ll always be my best friend, right?”

Gus nodded, “And you’re always be my best friend, Shawn,”

Shawn smiled, a full blown grin threatening to overtake his face, “I’ll see you later, buddy,”

_I’ll see you later._ Not good bye. This separation was only temporary. They’d be seeing each other again.

Shawn turned the bike towards the highway and drove off, speeding away from the city and towards a new chapter of his life. Gus waved as he drove away, knowing that Shawn couldn’t see him. The sun sunk beneath the now violently crashing waves as the first few drops of rain fell from the sky. A few drops fell down his face and strangely enough, a few tasted like salt.

_But it just won’t be the same,_ he added silently as he watched his best friend drive down the highway until he was out of sight.


End file.
